Simple Valentine
by omi1
Summary: Atobe made extra chocolate... A companion piece to Valentine's Day. Atobe Kabaji


Simple

Kabaji sat quietly by the door, ignoring the various crashes, pounding and cursing coming from inside the room. 

_"God! How hard can it be to follow a few simple instructions?!" _That would be Atobe. But it wasn't directed to him, so it's okay to ignore it. At times like these, Kabaji simply tuned out all the extraneous noises (excluding key words like his name, or emergency words like 'help' or 'fire'); it was the best way to survive the dramatics surrounding the Hyotei tennis team, especially during this time of the year. He turned to look out the window. __

It's still raining… 

***

It was raining the first time his mother took him to see the doctor. He was three years old. 

_"Dr. Muraki, he doesn't smile, or cry, or scream. He doesn't seem to understand when people are mad at him or not. His father and I are really worried…"_

_"Mrs Kabaji, I've ran some tests on Munehiro-kun. Physically, he's in perfect shape. But… I suspect Munehiro-kun may have a very mild condition called Asperger Syndrome."_

_"As—Asperger Syndrome…?"_

_"Yes. People with Asperger Syndrome find it difficult to communicate or interact with people, because their ability to understand non-verbal cues, like smiles or frowns, is below the norm. But it doesn't mean he's stupid – in fact, Munehiro-kun scored quite well in all the intelligence tests we administered."_

_"But… how is he going to go to school? I'm so worried he'll be bullied." _

_"I can recommend a specialist school that is very good at dealing with such special circumstances, let me draft a letter for you…"_

_"Thank you so much, Dr. Muraki!" _

It was quite a nice place, that school. He liked the teachers there, specially Goto-sensei. She was especially nice. She explained to him about the confusing things that his parents seemed to find so important, like the different types of smiles, the ways people looked that meant that they were angry or sad and the many, many combinations between. 

_Chibi__ Munehiro stood in front of the mirror with Goto-sensei. He stared at his reflection. _

_"Munehiro-kun, you need to learn to tell how people are feeling, even if they don't say so."_

_"Sensei… happy is when your mouth goes up like this." Chibi-Munehiro concentrated as he traced the upward curve of his teacher's mouth on the mirror. Then he stopped. "Then if I'm happy, my mouth should go up too." Munehiro screwed his face up as he tried to mimic his teacher's smile. He stared at his reflection. It looked and felt strange… _

_"No, Munehiro-kun," Goto-sensei smiled again. "You shouldn't force yourself to smile, or frown. You can come up with your own special signs of how you feel."_

_Chibi__ Munehiro stared at his teacher. "Signs?"_

_"Don't worry. Munehiro-kun is such a clever boy, I think once you can recognise the different types of facial expressions, we can start working on letting you go back to a mainstream school. You would like that, wouldn't you?"_

_"Usu." _

He was frightened on his first day at a mainstream school. His father picked Hyotei Gakuen for him because it was supposed to be one of the best, most forward-thinking schools in Kantou. But it was still scary. Kabaji lurked at the door to his classroom. Quite a lot of people were there already. They were really loud. 

Footsteps rang behind him. A woman's voice spoke from behind him. "Class is starting soon, hurry up and go back to your class, sophomore!"

Kabaji guessed that this was his teacher. She was kind of short. He looked at her. "This is my class."

The woman stamped her foot. "I'm sick of all these silly pranks you boys play on the first day of school! Hurry up and go back to the second year section or I'll put you on demerit!" 

Kabaji was stumped. Goto-sensei had practiced with him many times about what he should say and do when his classmates were mean to him. But this was a teacher… Kabaji stared at the woman. 

How on earth is he going to report his teacher to his teacher?

Kabaji was at a loss. The teacher's mouth was pursed tightly, there was a deep line between her eyes… This meant she was angry. Or was that worried? Kabaji thought hard. Maybe he should just ask.

"Are you mad?"

"Oh..! You, you –"

A new voice broke in, "You, just show sensei your student pass!"

Kabaji and the teacher turned around. It was another student, with dark hair and eyes, and a distinctive mole on his left cheek. He was looking at Kabaji. The lines on the teacher's face went away, "Atobe-kun, is this boy from your class?"

"No, Tokugawa-sensei."

Kabaji obediently took out his wallet and showed his brand new student pass to the teacher in silence. 

The woman googled at the pass – "Kabaji Munehiro… _First Year, A-class_? You, you really _are_ a freshman?!"  

"Usu."

An unpleasant flush spread over her face. "Fine! Get into class at once! We'll starting class right now!"

"Usu."

Kabaji thought he should probably thank his senior for rescuing him. So he tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you."

An elegant shoulder shrugged. "'s alright. I could tell that you were feeling kinda panicky back there."

Kabaji's eyes widened just a little bit. _He could tell how I feel?_ The boy – Atobe-kun – shot a look at Kabaji. He held his hand up, pointing to his eyes, "My eyes see everything, Kabaji-kun!" 

That was the first time he met Atobe Keigo. 

Kabaji didn't see Atobe for about a week after that first meeting. But one day, after school, as Kabaji was just about to leave for home, Atobe had walked up to him and asked. "Do you want to play tennis?"

Kabaji thought, _why not?_ And said, "Usu."  

***

"Ore-sama is going to be late! Late!" Atobe rushed out of the room, with two slim white packages in his hand. 

"Kabaji! You can go back now! I'll go to Seigaku alone." 

"Usu." 

He thrusted one package into Kabaji's hand. "This is for you. But the stupid rain today messed everything up, and it's _not_ my fault if it tastes funny!" He picked his bag up from beside Kabaji and strode off. 

"Usu."

Kabaji carefully opened the package. _Chocolate. *Ugly* Chocolate._ Kabaji broke off a small edge and put it in his mouth. He chewed without expression. Swallowed. Packed the rest of it away in his bag and got up to go home. 

_Usu. _

Epilogue: Copy

It was finally White Day, when Ore-sama had to give back chocolate to all the girls who'd given him presents on Valentine's. _Thank goodness Kabaji is around to help carry all the presents. _

After a long protracted round of taste-testing, Atobe had decided to go for the classy single Godiva chocolate as a 'return' present for all his fans. He considered it as a reward for his fans for their excellent taste in worshipping him. 

It was a relatively simple procedure, despite the large number of people involved. He just had Kabaji follow him around, carrying the huge sack of sweet delicious dark morsels from class to class, while his fans queued to shake his hand and get their present. 

And now that it was done, it was time to get down to the more serious business of tennis practice. Atobe entered the tennis club room and sank into plush comfortable sofa there. He closed his eyes, "Kabaji, bring me my tennis gear."

"Usu."

A moment later, a brief presence loomed over him, placed something beside him and left. Atobe opened his eyes again. _Ah, his clothes. Oh? What's this?_ He picked up a slim white package left on top of his clothes. 

Impatiently, Atobe ripped open the package. It was... _chocolate. *Ugly* chocolate_. The thing was a mess of lumpy swirls and knobs. It looked... deformed. Atobe broke off a sliver and cautiously tasted it. 

_Urgh_!

Too sweet! And there was a strange _charred_ taste about the thing. He looked down at the... _offering_ in distaste. _Disgusting. Did Kabaji make this?_ Atobe got up in search of his kouhai servant, the present in his hand. 

"Kabaji!"

Ah, there he was, with Jirou. Jirou was wrapped around Kabaji in a faintly terrifying manner, whining about something in that super-genki way he had when he was awake. Kabaji looked up at the shout.

"Usu."

Atobe drew near the two boys. "Did you --?" Then his attention was caught by the small lunchbox in Kabaji's hand. "What's that?"

"Atobe," Jirou smiled engagingly. "Tell Kabaji to give me his chocolate! Please?! I want Kabaji's chocolate!" 

"Kabaji, you _made_ all these chocolate?"

"Usu." Kabaji looked up. Atobe seemed to be waiting for something more, so Kabaji elaborated. "It was difficult trying to copy your chocolate. I failed many times. There was so much leftover, my mother said to bring it to school."

Atobe looked down suspiciously at his present and then at the chocolate Kabaji was holding. "Give me a taste of that one!" he demanded. 

"Usu," Kabaji held out his lunchbox. 

It was a small, perfectly round chocolate. It looked chocolaty -- that is to say, perfectly normal. Atobe took a bite. An intense rush of chocolate filled his mouth, delighting every single taste bud. Atobe closed his eyes in appreciation. _Oh my…_

The sweet melted away in his mouth, leaving behind a soft, light after-taste. 

Atobe opened his eyes. Looked down at his present again. "How many times did you say you failed?" He enquired absently, still looking at the small gift in his hand.

"Sixteen."

"I see. And did you eat all of _my_ chocolate?" 

"Usu."

Atobe nodded. "Hurry up and change. You'll be late for practice."

"Usu."

"You too, Jirou." 

"Aww... I want chocolate..." Already, Jirou's eyes were falling to half-mast as he hung onto Kabaji as they walked out the club room. 

Atobe carefully broke off another piece of the deformed chocolate and popped it into his mouth. Chewed. Swallowed with some difficulty. 

_Right. Practice. _


End file.
